


Crystalline

by GemmaRose



Series: Inhuman [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Chronic Pain, Exhaustion, Explosions, First Kiss, Hugs, I Don't Even Know, Insomnia, Loss of Limbs, M/M, Medication, Nightmares, Pain, Recovery, Scars, Self-Esteem Issues, Suicidal Thoughts, Teasing, Terminal Illnesses, Training, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: For all their wonders, the cryo-pods can’t remove foreign objects from a body. Lance isn’t happy about the shrapnel embedded in his back, but as long as he can spin it into a good story for cute aliens and it doesn’t rip up his shirt, he’s pretty much okay with it.Translations courtesy ofvarebanos(varevareon tumblr), end-of-fic art byAnastasia.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance removed his cuirass with a sigh, tossing the armour in the vague direction of the open closet. The rest of his it followed suit, each piece removed making him feel lighter, until he was unzipping his flight suit. Whatever Coran had given him to keep him up once he got out of the pod was definitely wearing off, and he was starting to feel kinda fuzzy in the head. He pulled the dual-layered suit down off his shoulders, and frowned when it stuck to his back.

“Oh venga ya.” he mumbled, reaching up to peel the fabric away from his skin. His fingers hit something rough under the fabric, and an icy spike of fear shot down his spine. No. No, no, no, no. He yanked the flight suit away from his back, and ran into the attached bathroom as he shrugged it the rest of the way off his upper body. It was hard to see, with how he had to crane his neck over his shoulder, but there were definitely things sticking out of his back. Things which glinted familiar white and turquoise blue in the castle’s cold light

“Tienes que estar de broma.” he groaned, slumping back to lean against the sink. They hadn’t bothered to take the fucking shrapnel out of his back? It was bad enough having Coran tell him he had scars due to the extended time between being injured and going in the pod, but to find out that he had bits of shrapnel stuck in him? He couldn’t catch a break! He slid down the sink, and stopped with a wince when the cool space-porcelain pulled at something sticking out of his back around his lower ribs.

Taking a long inhale, Lance let out a heavy breath all at once. He was okay, that was what mattered. He was alive, and in one piece. And, bonus, if a girl ever asked about his scars he could tell them the heroic tale of how he’d saved Coran’s life shielding him from the bomb. No exaggeration needed. He chuckled, and pushed off of the cabinet under the sink. His pod time was catching up with him, so once he brushed his teeth he’d just go collapse in bed. Sleep sounded really, really nice.

\---

“Jeez, Lance.” Pidge huffed behind him, pulling themself up over the edge of the cliff. “Did you find a case of Red Bull or something? Where the hell are you getting all this energy?”

Lance shrugged. “Dunno. You sure you’re not just extra tired because you had to climb that whole way with your short li'l limbs?” he teased. Pidge scowled.

“My limbs are perfectly average for my body size, you twerp.” they snapped.

“Did you just call me a twerp?” Lance snorted. “I’m older than you!”

“You’re not exactly acting like it.” Pidge replied.

“Fair.” Lance shrugged again as they started up the slope towards the rendezvous point.

“But seriously, did you find a stash of energy drinks or coffee or something?” Pidge asked, trailing behind him. “Because lately you’re like the energizer bunny or something, it’s like you just don’t get tired anymore.”

“Guess I’m just getting used to space faster than you are.” Lance quipped, flashing Pidge a grin over his shoulder.

“That’s a lie.” Pidge huffed. “I was running on quintants and vargas before you even got your beauty sleep schedule adjusted.”

“That’s because you never sleep, you gremlin.” Lance fired back. He liked missions with Pidge, it was so easy to tease them like he teased his siblings and cousins back home.

“I will taze you, I swear to god.” Pidge grumbled.

“No you wouldn’t~” Lance sang, using his jetpack as an extra boost to hop up on top of a large rock instead of climbing around it. The slope ahead was made up of large boulders, which meant more climbing, which meant more chances to tease Pidge and keep them focused on him instead of how tired they were. “C’mon, race ya to the top!”

“I get to use my jetpack!” Pidge yelled after him.

\---

Lance leaned against the wall with a huff. Pidge may have been onto something last week, likening him to the energizer bunny. Lately, when he tried to lie down and go to sleep, he just couldn’t get his body to shut down. Which was why he was here, waiting against the wall while Keith beat yet another training dummy into submission. Sure, in theory he could make the room drop another robot and they could train side by side, but Lance prefered to have the whole room to work with. Also, watching Keith train was nice.

Contrary as it was to his Lion’s element, he moved like water, flowing from one strike to the next. There was a ferocity to it, a level of savagery that even Shiro lacked, and it made Lance the tiniest bit glad that Keith was on their side. To go up against him in a real fight, well, he didn’t even want to imagine it, and not just because it would mean they weren’t friends anymore.

“You’re still here?” Keith asked, pausing the program before it could drop another bot.

“Just waiting my turn.” Lance shrugged.

“I’ll spot you.” Keith offered, pulling the control panel from around his wrist and holding it out to Lance as he crossed the floor.

“Nah.” Lance shook his head, accepting the wrist strap. “I’ll be here a while, you go on to bed.”

“Don’t stay up too late.” Keith teased. “Wouldn’t want your beauty sleep to cut into training time.”

“As if I’d sleep through Hunk’s breakfast.” Lance gasped in exaggerated offence, pressing a hand to his breastplate.

Keith snorted, and patted him on the shoulder as he passed. “See ya tomorrow.”

“See ya.” Lance grinned, strapping the control on and walking towards the wall which hid the racks of training weapons. Normally he hated hand to hand, his bayard wasn’t a gun for nothing, but he needed to burn off some energy and target practice was more mental exertion than physical. He examined the array of weapons for a minute, then grabbed one that looked like a short staff with a euro sign on either end. Probably good for bashing robots over the head with; at least, that’s what he thought until the prongs energized and suddenly he was holding a trident. A lightsaber trident.

“Fire.” he muttered, giving it a two-handed spin. Stilling it in his off hand, he lifted his arm and tapped through the little icon-filled screen to the basic smart-escalating training program Allura loved to sic on them. The robot dropped in front of him, and he gave the trident a twirl. This was going to be a learning experience, if nothing else. “¿Quieres pelea?” he taunted, and the training dummy lunged at him with its staff.

It disarmed him, knocked him on his ass in three seconds flat, and Lance groaned as he pushed himself up. Okay, now it was time to figure out how to actually navigate this interface Pidge set up and put this bot in teaching mode. Messing around with colour guard’s flags and stuff on the sidelines of games evidently did not translate into being able to fight with a staff-like weapon. He just had to hope that this would burn off enough energy for him to get to sleep at close to a reasonable hour.

\---

“Good job, Lance!” Shiro said proudly, clapping him on the shoulder as they filed out of the training room. “Keep improving at this rate, and you’ll be able to take Keith on in a fortnight.”

Lance laughed, rubbing at the back of his neck inside the wide collar of his cuirass. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Shiro.”

“Guess all that late night training is paying off.” Keith added, elbowing Lance as they headed towards the hallway where their rooms were located.

“Late night training?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“I sleep better lately if I work out a bit first.” Lance shrugged. It was only technically true, but if he said he literally couldn’t sleep without wearing himself out on the training dummy Shiro would give him that Look™. Lance prefered Shiro’s proud smile, his approving back and shoulder pats, the knowledge that he was proving himself as a worthy, well-rounded Paladin of Voltron. They didn’t need to know that he was sleeping less and less with each night as he got better at fighting the training dummies. As long as this unnatural energy kept being enough to get him through each day, he’d power through the mental exhaustion to make them all proud.

“A bit seems like an understatement.” Keith quipped. “You’re learning a whole new weapon, that’s not a casual thing.”

“I learned my bayard fast enough, didn’t I?” he asked rhetorically. “We all did.”

“I’m still not entirely sure the Lions didn’t help with that.” Shiro mused. “None of us had ever heard of a katar before we got here, but Pidge picked it up immediately.”

“That’s because I’m better than y’all.” Pidge called back from where they were walking up ahead with Hunk.

“No you’re not.” Lance retorted, and startled slightly to hear another voice speaking in synch with him. He looked over, and saw Keith staring at him with an equal amount of shock.

Shiro snorted, and dropped back a step to ruffle both their hair. “You’re right. All three of you are total nerds.”

“You’re a nerd too!” Keith complained as Lance tried to flatten his mussed hair.

“We’re all nerds.” Hunk interjected, turning around and hooking his hands together behind his head. “We were going to space school. Space people are, categorically, nerds.”

“Keith’s not a nerd.” Lance argued. “He doesn’t know shit about sci-fi!”

“You’re mixing up nerd and geek again.” Hunk pointed out. “Nerd is STEM fields, geek is comics and sci-fi.”

“Well I’m not either of those.” Keith huffed.

“What about-”

“Finish that sentence and I will fucking break your face.” Keith hissed, raising a fist threateningly towards Shiro.

“You won your school science fair the year before getting into the Garrison.” Pidge said with an audible shit-eating grin.

“Neeeerd.” Lance teased, and Keith punched him in the arm as Shiro laughed.

“Just accept it, Keith.” he said, resting one armoured forearm on Keith’s shoulder. “You’re a nerd just like the rest of us.”

“I hate all of you.” Keith grumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance ducked the training dummy’s swipe and darted in, catching its weapon between the prongs of his trident and wrenching it free. A spin of the weapon let him bring the other set of prongs down on the dummy’s head, knocking the faceplate clear off and gouging three parallel lines deep into its body. He stepped back, breathing hard, and tensed his arms experimentally. Not tired yet, damn. He’d been working through robots of increasing difficulty for what felt like ages now, but now that he’d gotten the hang of their attack pattern he didn’t get hit half as often.

“Increase difficulty by two levels.” he told the room, stepping back and falling into a ready position, double-ended lightsaber trident held loosely at an angle across his chest.

“You’re still here?”

Lance whirled around at the voice, and then yelped and stumbled forwards as the bot got a hard strike in across his back. “End training program!” he said quickly, whirling to block the next incoming strike. The training dummy went dark, then dropped through the floor, and Lance sighed as he turned back to Keith. “Hey.” he panted, pressing a hand to his chest. “You’re up early.”

“I’m always up this early.” Keith rolled his eyes, unhooking his bayard from his belt and activating it. “You’re usually not, though.” his eyes scanned over Lance’s form as he strapped a control thingy to his wrist, lingering a second on the sweat-drenched shirt which clung to his torso. His eyes suddenly widened, and his dark gaze locked with Lance’s. “Wait, did you even go to bed last night?”

“Shit.” Lance groaned, slapping his free hand to his face and dragging it slowly down. “Guess not.”

“And I thought I was bad.” Keith huffed, unfastening his wristband and hanging it back in its spot. “C’m’ere.” he gestured, and Lance approached slowly. “Give me your hand.”

“Gee, buy a guy dinner first.” he joked, and Keith stared blankly at him. Right, this was Keith. “Never mind.” he muttered, and let Keith grab his left hand.

“You need to sleep.” Keith said firmly, unfastening Lance’s wristband. “Put your trident back.”

“I’m fine, really.” Lance protested, grip tightening on his training weapon. The words felt like a lie, but he wasn’t about to let Keith order him around. “Still got plenty of energy for training later, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I doubt it.” Keith huffed.

“Look, I’ll prove it to you.” Lance said, deactivating the prongs of his trident and spinning it so it rested along the length of his arm, pointed straight at the floor. “Let me grab my bayard, and we can spar. If I hold my own, you don’t tell anyone about this.”

Keith stared at him, face unreadable and gaze so intense Lance felt it might burn a hole straight through him. “Fine.” he said, crossing his arms. “But mess up, and I’m telling Shiro.”

“I won’t.” Lance promised, walking over to the wall and making the weapons rack slide out. He’d never actually transformed his bayard into anything other than a gun, but he was sure Blue would be willing to help him out here.

“Estoy bien.” he muttered to himself as he headed to his room, rubbing at his temples. “Estoy bien, estoy bien, estoy bien.” his body thrummed with energy, just as awake as he’d been almost a full 20 vargas ago. His muscles ached, but he knew that if he sat down he wouldn’t be able to stay still. Training wasn’t enough anymore, and he shoved down the thought that maybe nothing would be enough anymore.

Sparring with Keith had to help at least a little. He was the best fighter on the team, after Shiro and Allura, and neither of them really counted because Shiro had a year of muscle memory to rely on and Allura had a lifetime of actual training. He was musing on the possibility of asking Allura to spar with him when he walked back into the training room, bayard in hand, and found Keith’s red and white blade pointed at his throat.

“Yeesh, let me turn my bayard on first.” he grumbled as Keith stepped back.

The weapon energized at a thought, and Lance frowned at the familiar gun in his hand. “Ése no.” he muttered, and shut his eyes to focus on the feel of the training trident in his hands. Blue’s purr washed over him like waves on a gravel beach, and he opened his eyes to see an elegant trident resting in his palm. The outer prongs bore more than a passing resemblance to his bayard’s inactive form, and the one in the middle glowed bright blue.

“Whoa.” Keith breathed.

“Fire.” Lance grinned, giving it an experimental twirl. The balance was perfect, and he could feel Blue’s happiness at his appreciation of the weapon.

“Okay, that’s pretty cool.” Keith said, backing up towards the ring in the middle of the room. “Now let’s see how well those robots trained you for a real fight.”

“Bring it.” Lance grinned.

\---

“Hey, Coran?” Lance’s hands curled into fists in his jacket pockets, and he shifted from foot to foot nervously. The advisor turned to him, and his usual smile was quickly replaced by concern.

“Are you feeling alright, Lance?” Coran asked, standing from where he’d been crouched by an open panel.

“Not really.” Lance admitted, his voice coming out small. “I can’t sleep.”

“Ah.” Coran nodded, comforting smile returning as he clapped a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Nothing to be ashamed of.” he said cheerily, turning Lance around and guiding him down the hall. “Even the Paladins of old had bouts of insomnia sometimes, and they weren’t under half as much stress as you lot.” he patted Lance’s shoulder as they came to a stop in front of an elevator, and pushed the call button with his other hand. “Why, one time...”

Lance tried to pay attention, because Coran’s stories tended to be pretty damn cool, but his mind just plain old refused to focus. He still hurt all over from his lengthy spar with Keith this morning, and his head hurt like an absolute bitch after being up for what his phone told him was a solid forty hours, but restless energy still filled his limbs. He made absent sounds of agreement whenever Coran’s story lulled, and let himself be lead into Medical.

Coran rummaged through the cupboards for a minute, then made a triumphant sound and pulled out a small bottle of translucent blue-ish material with a handful of small round pills inside. “Here we go.” he grinned, twisting the cap off and shaking one of the pills out. It was pale yellow, and looked almost chalky. “Take one of these with a glass of water, you’ll be out like a light in ten doboshes or less.” he tipped the pill back into the bottle, and screwed the cap back on.

“Thanks, Coran.” Lance grinned, accepting the pills when they were handed to him.

“The health of you Paladins is my top priority.” Coran said proudly, twirling the end of his moustache for a second before deflating a bit. “Well, after the Princess’s safety, and making sure the castle stays ship shape, and-”

Lance sniggered, and Coran stopped with a blotchy blue blush. “Regardless of priorities, it’s my job to make sure you lot don’t work yourselves to death.” he said sharply.

“I know.” Lance grinned. “Seriously, Coran. Thanks for taking me seriously and not, like, prescribing warm milk or something.”

“Lance.” Coran’s face grew stern, and he placed his hands on Lance’s shoulders. “I will always take your well-being seriously. If something is wrong, please don’t hesitate to ask me for help.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Lance smiled, shrugging Coran’s hands off. “I’ll just, go take one of these now. Catch up on my beauty sleep.” he laughed, and Coran chuckled with him.

“Goodnight, Lance.”

\---

He looked at his hands, curling and uncurling his fingers slowly. He felt stiff all over, his hands especially, and moving his fingers did nothing to help. He should talk to Coran, maybe go in a pod, but even the thought of so much as getting out from under the blankets took too much energy. He was exhausted, his eyelids heavy as stone, and his limbs protested the attempt to uncurl from his loose fetal position. He sank into the mattress with a sigh, resolving to talk to Coran after he had a nap.

A blaring alarm jolted him back from the edge of sleep, the sensation familiar, and Lance heard running footsteps outside. He had to get up, had to put his armour on and get to the bridge, but his limbs were so _heavy_. He managed to move one of his arms, but not much. His skin felt even more stiff, almost brittle, and when he forced his fingers to uncurl there was a sound like grinding stone. He was made of stone, his skin and muscles and bones. He could feel it creeping deeper, fossilizing his organs until only his heart was left, frantically beating against unmoving rock.

And then his heart stopped, a crackling noise filling his ears in the absence of a heartbeat. His heart had turned to crystal, a solid lump of some glittering precious gem protected by a cage of stone. He couldn’t feel the blanket on top of him anymore, or hear the alarm, and his eyelids wouldn’t open so he couldn’t even test if his vision still worked. Was he even breathing? Without his heart racing in his chest there was only a creeping sense of dread, the thought that the pods wouldn’t be able to fix him this time filling his mind. He tried to say something, anything, but couldn’t feel the vibration of his throat.

It seemed like eons before he felt it, a strike against his skin so small it was like being bitten by a mosquito, or pricked with a needle. He focused on that patch of his rocky skin, and felt tiny footsteps. Something was crawling on him, striking him. He tried to shake it off but his body remained still as the footsteps and strikes became numerous, burrowing into his skin and muscles. They carved their way into him, deeper and deeper, tunnels spreading out in incomprehensible fractals but always reaching towards his crystal heart.

Something struck his heart, and Lance bolted upright with a scream, throwing the covers off onto the floor. His heart pounded against his ribs, his chest heaved as he gasped for air, his messy hair clung to his sweaty face. He shivered violently, and yanked his shirt off over his head. He could still feel phantom prickles where the bug-people had been mining into him, and the fabric clinging to his skin didn’t help. He shucked off his pants and underwear too, and after a second staggered out of bed and into the bathroom.

The shower was hot, verging on too hot, but it helped some. He could feel himself again, feel the water stinging his skin, feel his throat tighten and stomach churn when he tried to remember details of the nightmare that had woken him. He was definitely not going to use the rest of those pills.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance sank down onto one of the couches in the lounge, and shut his eyes. His legs shook, itching to spend his excess of energy, but he couldn’t afford to exhaust himself before afternoon training. Sleep was actively impossible now, but he could stand to sit mostly-still for about an hour at a time and as long as he wasn’t _doing_ anything it was enough to let him sorta recharge. He’d have to force himself to sleep eventually, only human and all that, but until he started threatening their ability to synch he would get by on these not-quite-naps.

He bounced one of his legs, and immediately winced as his heel struck the floor, sending dull pain shooting up through his bones. That was another thing, the aches and pains that were only getting worse. They were nothing compared to the bruises he was gathering from training with Keith and now occasionally Shiro, but still a nuisance. One he kept his mouth carefully shut about. They were in the middle of a war, nobody wanted to put up with him whining about growing pains. He couldn’t even go to Coran about it because, well, there was nothing to be done. He just had to ride it out, like a cold or a stomach bug.

Lifting the heel of his other foot, he started bouncing that leg with minute movements, more shaking than true bouncing. He didn’t know where the excess energy was coming from, but they had more important things to worry about than his sleep issues. As long as he could still fight, still fly, he would handle this on his own.

\---

“Estoy bien.” he told himself firmly, pacing back and forth. The words felt hollow in his mouth, his legs aching with every step. “Son sólo glitches. Todo esto tiene diez mil años, tiene que haber algunos glitches.”

But the last time he could remember the castle glitching, it had been lingering corruption from the galra crystal. This wasn’t malicious though, or didn’t seem like it. It was little things, harmless things; lights brightening to full when he walked under them at night and staying lit too long after he passed, panels shorting out when he tried to use them, his bayard activating and deactivating at random. That last one was the most concerning, really. Bright lights and temperamental doors, he could deal with just fine. His bayard sparking and shutting down mid-mission? That could get someone hurt, maybe even killed.

“Estoy bien.” he murmured, coming to a stop and forcing himself to take a deep breath. He’d just have to train harder, figure out what was causing the problem, and fix it. Maybe in the meantime, though, he’d ask Keith to teach him some unarmed hand to hand. They’d been getting along better since they started sparring regularly, and the strain of learning something new might even help him rest.

\---

“Form Voltron!” Shiro yelled, and Lance pulled Blue out of a dive to rush up and join the formation. He shut his eyes, focusing on his bond with Blue and with the rest of the team. His Lion’s presence was as familiar as breathing now, and through her he could feel the other Lions, each one twined so closely with their pilot they became like a single spot of light. They were so dim, though, not as bright as he remembered. He opened his mouth to ask if something was wrong, and screamed as a massive charge flowed through him.

The five presences in his head vanished, and his eyes flew open to see an unlit cockpit. “Blue?” he called out, and silence answered him. No water sounds, no radio static, nothing. “Blue, come on, wake up.” he pushed on the controls, jostling them forwards and back.

“Lance!” Keith’s shout blared in his ear suddenly, drowning out the crackle of his comms coming back online. Lance grunted as he was thrown against the side of his seat, but kept a firm hold on the controls.

“I’m alright!” he called back, hands shaking slightly on Blue’s controls.

“What happened?” Hunk asked, sounding more than a little panicked.

“Explain later.” Shiro said sharply before Lance could even open his mouth. “Can you get your Lion running again?”

“I can try.” Lance replied, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.

“Don’t try, _do_.” Pidge snapped. “We need Voltron!”

“I’m trying.” Lance repeated, squeezing his eyes shut as he reached for Blue and was met with nothing. His heart was beating its way out of his throat, his breaths coming fast and ragged. This was more than a glitch, more than a minor nuisance he could keep the others from worrying about. “Wake up, girl.” he breathed, jostling the controls. “Wake up wake up wake up.”

“Lance, we need you!” Keith shouted, and Lance gritted his teeth. He couldn’t let them down!

Gripping Blue’s controls so tight his bones ached all the way up to the elbow, Lance tried to remember how he’d woken Blue when Voltron was hit by that galra energy weapon during the assault on Zarkon’s base. He’d done it before, he could do it again. “Despiértate, coño!” he screamed, and _pushed_. A strange sensation rushed down his arms, like ice surging through his veins and out his fingertips, and Blue roared to life around him.

The rest of the battle was a blur, Blue’s tidal presence flooding his mind and drowning all thought. The world only sharpened again when they came in to land, and then the chair jerked backwards so hard the controls were ripped from his hands. He was unceremoniously ejected, and exhaustion rolled through him as he tried to push himself up off the floor. It was like all the excess energy had been drained from his body, leaving him aching and so, so tired.

Blue’s force field went up behind him, glowing bright enough to illuminate the room, and Lance’s eyes fell shut.

\---

He sat on Allura’s little pedastal on the bridge, watching the hologram of the stars dance around him, his eyes tracking the movement of the little blue dot which marked his homeworld. Shutting his eyes, he leaned back and tilted his face towards the crystal above him. It was warm, like sunshine, and Lance hummed quietly as he soaked up its radiant energy. He could almost imagine he was sitting on the porch at home, his siblings and cousins roughhousing in the yard, the adults inside yelling at them to play nice. It made his chest ache, and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter against tears as the warmth enveloped him.

The sounds of the castle faded away, until the silence was broken only by his quiet breaths and the soft sound of his heartbeat. It was peaceful, utter stillness and calm surrounding him, and he wasn’t sure how long he hung there in the warmth before another sound interrupted his doze. It was a dull, low sound, the kind that was ignorable at first but slowly began to grate on the nerves. Lance opened his eyes to glare up at the ceiling, where the sound was surely coming from, and his heart leapt in his chest. The ceiling was much, _much_ closer than it was supposed to be.

He looked around frantically, and realized he was high off of the floor, encased in the crystal above Allura’s station. He struggled to move, to reach the edge, but no matter how he pushed against the stuff surrounding him he didn’t move. It was like trying to swim in the void of space, futile.

The others rushed into the room, each in their armour, and Lance yelped as Allura set her hands on the control columns. It hurt! Not like being shocked, exactly, but like the inverse of it, a charge being drawn out of him. The five seats rising from the floor hurt too, and the screen, and Lance’s flailing hand hit the edge of his prison.

He pulled himself over and started slamming his fists against the crystalline wall, screaming for them to stop, he couldn’t take it. He arched in pain as the shields went up, and fell back into the middle of the crystal as Coran started returning fire. It was too much, his body didn’t have enough energy in it to power the whole castle.

He woke screaming, thrashing against gloved hands that tried to hold him down. He wrenched himself free and tumbled out of bed, staggering into the bathroom and collapsing against the toilet. He emptied his stomach of what little was in it, and once the dry heaves had passed he slumped against the space-porcelain with a groan.

“Lance?”

Keith, that was Keith’s voice, Keith’s hand stroking the back of his head. Lance let Keith pull him to his feet and guide him back to bed, focusing more on the soothing sound of the Red Paladin’s voice than whatever he was saying. He collapsed as soon as the mattress was within range, curling up in a ball and pulling the blanket around himself as Keith went back to the bathroom. His limbs were shaking, energy already crawling under his skin and demanding to be released through physical activity.

“Hey.” Keith said softly, and Lance startled to realize the Red Paladin was sitting next to him. How badly had he zoned out that he didn’t even notice? “You feeling okay?”

Lance hesitated, then shook his head. “Bad dream.” he said simply. Keith nodded, and slung an arm over the blanket wrapped around Lance’s shoulders.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked, voice still low and soft and comforting.

Lance shook his head again. “I’d rather not remember.” he muttered, and Keith’s arm around his shoulders tightened briefly before relaxing back into a casual one-armed not-quite-hug. Lance leaned into his warmth, and let his eyes slide shut. In half an hour he’d need to get up and move around, but until then he could enjoy this.


	4. Chapter 4

When the restlessness finally grew too great to ignore, Lance shooed Keith out of his room and stripped off his flight suit, exchanging it for his normal clothes. The cuffs of his jacket sleeves were starting to show some wear, and he made a mental note to ask Coran where to find some thread later. Better to have it on hand than have to hunt the damn stuff down when the fabric eventually gave and he had to stitch it back together. He opened his door to find Keith leaning against the wall next to it, and raised an eyebrow at the Red Paladin in an expression he definitely hadn’t spent the majority of his summer before middle school perfecting in the mirror.

“I promised Shiro I’d make sure you came in for debrief once you woke up.” Keith said by way of explanation. Lance nodded, and jammed his hands in his pockets as he followed Keith down the hall. The rest of the team would definitely want to know what had happened with Blue earlier, but he doubted a simple ‘I don’t know’ would be enough. Shiro would definitely be upset if he found out Lance had been having problems with his bayard and keeping them secret, especially now that the problem had grown into one that had affected their ability to form Voltron.

“Hey, Lance?” Keith slowed, looking over his shoulder.

“Hmm?” Lace tilted his head slightly, and Keith looked away quickly.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” he mumbled, ducking his head.

“Aww, you care.” Lance teased, stepping up next to Keith and hooking an arm through one of the Red Paladin’s.

“Of course I care!” Keith blustered, face flushed an interesting shade of pink. “Stop smirking like that, you asshole.”

“Make me.” Lance laughed, then yelped and held up his arms as a shield when Keith whacked him on the side of the head.

“I was worried about you, you jerk!”

Lance laughed, blocking more strikes from Keith’s fists. Even with energy thrumming under his skin and exhaustion dragging at his mind, being around Keith somehow made things feel almost normal again.

\---

Lance turned onto his side, glaring blearily at the wall across from his bed. Keith had all but dragged him out of the training room to make him go to bed, but he was still too keyed-up to sleep. He itched to get up, to move around, to find _something_ to do that would exhaust all this excess energy in his system, but he was pretty sure Keith had locked or alarmed the door somehow when they left the training deck. Maybe he could go for a swim? It’d be a nice change of pace, if nothing else.

He pulled on his swim trunks and bathrobe, draped a towel around his neck, and stuck his head out into the hallway. No Keith or Shiro loitering around to force him hack into bed, perfect. He slipped down the hall, sticking close to the wall and valiantly resisting the powerful urge to hum spy music under his breath. He headed towards the pool, allowing himself to hum once he was safely away from the Paladin Quarters, and paused when he found himself stopping in front of the door to the Blue Lion’s hangar. How had he gotten here? He looked over his shoulder with a frown, then back towards the hangar door as it slid open.

“Blue?” he asked, stepping in and looking up at his Lion. She’d dropped her shield, thankfully, and when she crouched to put her jaw on the floor Lance slowly approached. She purred in his mind, washing away his worries like waves taking footprints out of wet sand, and when he reached her Lance leaned against her nose. “Sorry about, whatever happened earlier.” he said, stroking the dark metal. “You’re okay now?”

Blue purred again, dragging at him like undertow, and Lance chuckled softly at the sense of being chided. “You can say that again. It’s been keeping me up for weeks.” he flexed his fingers against her hull, eyes drifting shut as he let her into his mind. She had an idea, a plan to- take his energy? Something cold coiled in his gut, only to wash away at an insistent purr from his Lion. “If you say so.” he murmured, and flattened his palms against her snout. He could feel her sliding into him, her deep-space chill wrapping around his heart. He could see his breath fogging in the air.

A strange sensation built in his arms, like something was being suctioned out of his body via the pads of his fingers, and Lance shivered at the feeling. The last thing to flow from his hands was the cold of Blue’s presence, and he slumped against her nose as exhaustion washed over him. He was exhausted! Not like he’d been after shorting her out, but like he’d just spent all day pushing himself to the limit, which was what he’d done. Lance laughed, and pressed his forehead to his Lion’s nose. “Thanks, girl.” he whispered, swaying slightly when he straightened up and stepped back. If Blue could do this every night, maybe he could actually start sleeping again.

\---

At breakfast the next morning, Lance glared at his food as he ate in silence. He’d managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking up wired again, but they’d hardly been restful. He’d had the dream again, the one about turning into an inert golem with a crystal heart and insect-people mining through his body to get at it, and it had taken so long to scrub the feeling of tiny picks and footsteps from his skin his hair was dripping down his back even now.

“You okay, buddy?” Hunk asked, nudging Lance’s shin gently under the table. Lance grimaced, the impact jarring his aching bones painfully, and Hunk made a worried sound.

“It’s nothing.” Lance waved a hand dismissively. “Just didn’t sleep too well last night is all.”

Next to him, Keith paused and gave him a knowing look. Lance kicked him.

“Are those sleep tablets I gave you not helping?” Coran asked with a frown.

“Oh, no.” Lance shook his head quickly. “They work fine, I just didn’t take one last night.” or most of the nights before that, but what Coran didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“Maybe you should use one tonight.” Keith suggested. “You kinda look like shit.”

“Ex _cuse_ you.” Lance huffed, pouting at Keith. “I’ve never been anything less than an 8.”

Hunk snorted, and Lance turned to point his spork at him. “Once I’m presentable!” he insisted. “Before I brush my hair doesn’t count.”

“You haven’t brushed it yet today.” Keith pointed out, and Lance glared at Hunk’s smug smile before rounding on the Red Paladin.

“How would you know what brushed hair looks like, Mullet?” he needled. Keith, frustratingly, didn’t rise to the bait.

“You never brush your hair until it’s dried.” Keith said with a calm sort of smugness. “If you came to breakfast straight from the shower, you haven’t brushed your hair yet.”

Lance opened his mouth, then shut it again. When did Keith have a chance to figure out his haircare routine? Whatever, Lance couldn’t actually refute that since he _hadn’t_ brushed his hair before rushing to breakfast, so instead he just glowered.

“Don’t worry, you’re still at least a six.” Keith said, turning back to his plate. “Even with your knockoff Sasuke hair.”

Hunk and Allura had to pull them apart because Shiro was laughing too hard, but even though he had food goo in his hair and would need a second shower now, Lace felt a smile pulling at his face as he righted his chair and sat back down, and not just because he’d managed his goal of making Keith’s hair stick up in back like a certain emo ninja’s.

\---

“So, I was talking with Keith-”

Lance groaned, and hung his head back over the back to the couch to pout up at his best friend. Hunk just rolled his eyes and dropped down to sit next to Lance.

“And we decided to make sure you start getting enough sleep.” he finished, undeterred by Lance’s expression.

“I’m getting plenty of sleep.” Lance protested, though it felt hollow. Even with Blue helping now, siphoning off some of his excess energy every night, he rarely got more than maybe two hours of fitful rest before the nightmares woke him. He was pretty sure that if he had to go without his pseudo-cat-naps for a day he’d spiral faster than a fighter jet with a busted wing, but so far the only times that had happened were when he was on a mission and Blue was there to keep him steady.

“You have under-eye bags.” Hunk said flatly, and Lance huffed.

“They’re from stress.” he insisted, the lie burning like lime on his lips. “We’re in the middle of a galactic space war, and it’s not like I had time to grab my skincare stuff when we were leaving Earth.”

“Well, if you sleep more you won’t have as much time to stress.” Hunk said calmly. Sometimes Lance kinda hated that his best friend knew him so well. “Coran said he can up the dosage of your sleeping meds, too, if they don’t work.”

“Oh, they work.” Lance said quickly.

“And Keith and I will make sure you take them.” Hunk nodded, throwing an arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulling him into a one-armed hug. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll get you back up to a ten.”

“Excuse you.” Lance huffed, crossing his arms as Hunk ruffled his hair. “I am the picture of perfection.”

“Tell that to your eye bags.” Hunk teased, and Lance shoved him. It was nice, knowing they cared enough to try, but he seriously hoped that they’d buy his lies about being fine sooner than later. Disappointing his friends when they only wanted to help was the last thing he wanted to do.


	5. Chapter 5

Between the pills and Blue’s siphoning of his energy, Lance was pretty sure his sleep time just about doubled. Unfortunately, so did his nightmares. There were more of them now, some variants of the first two and some original horrors. Sometimes he dreamed of Blue shorting out, her cockpit dark and controls unresponsive as the cold set in and oxygen ran low. Sometimes it was the entirety of Voltron malfunctioning, his friends panicking and unable to wake their Lions as they were bombarded by enemy fire. Sometimes, when he was trapped in the castle’s crystal, he could hear the others calling for him to come help. Sometimes it wasn’t aliens burrowing into his stony body, but his friends. Those were the worst, worse even than hearing them die while he was trapped and useless in Blue or in the castle’s crystal battery, because they invariably claimed to be helping him.

The nights when it was Keith were the most painful.

Lance shuddered, curling tighter under his covers and pressing a hand to his chest over his frantically beating heart. He could still feel himself melting, stone turning to magma and then nothing under the Red Lion’s intense flames. He could still feel Keith pacing down the dripping tunnel, fingers trailing along the half-molten wall. Could still hear his friend’s indistinct but soothing voice, promising that he’d make everything okay. Could still taste copper on his tongue from the surge that filled his body when Keith gripped his heart and wrenched it free.

Or, no, that had been ozone he tasted then. He swallowed, and grimaced at the warm liquid sliding down his throat. Great, he’d bitten something in his sleep. There went any hope of squeezing in another half-hour doze tonight. He rolled out of bed and trudged over to the bathroom, prodding around his mouth with his tongue until he found the bleeding bit. A few rinses of his mouth later, when his teeth were no longer covered in blood, he pulled his lower lip out and examined the injury. It was small, superficial. He’d ask Coran for pod time if eating breakfast hurt, but it probably wouldn’t.

Shuffling back to bed, he flopped down on his mattress and stared up at the ceiling. He itched to _move_ , to run until he dropped, fight until he couldn’t stand, anything to burn up the energy that refused to let him _rest_. But the training room and swimming pool and general workout room were all locked now, because when Hunk did something he did it thoroughly. Lance couldn’t unlock anywhere which could be used to work out until some varga that Keith and Shiro had deemed reasonable, which left him with no way to burn energy until then. Unless he stole someone else’s bayard and used it to bypass the locks, but he doubted he could manage that. He’d nearly woken Shiro just checking on him after his first bad dream this night-cycle, there was no way he could steal the man’s bayard out from under his nose. And that was assuming his bayard wasn’t stored in his armour to begin with.

Lance groaned, and rolled over to bury his face in his pillow. He could always do pushups or something, run laps in the halls, but if Hunk or Keith found him mid-workout they’d give him a Look. Hunk’s disappointed face was almost as bad as Shiro’s, and he wasn’t sure what to call the thing Keith’s face did but it was worse than either of the others’. “Me cago en la mierda.” he groaned into the pillow, rolling back over to lie on his back and glare at the ceiling. As long as he didn’t count out loud, maybe he could pass off any sweat as still being wet from a shower? Actually, if he showered first he could probably pull that off.

Lance stood, and leaned back with his hands above his head in a stretch. Maybe he’d get lucky and find something that wore him out fast enough to get another doze in before breakfast.

\---

Lance swore and ducked behind a column thing, slamming his bayard against the wall. “I need backup.” he hissed into his comms, daring a glance at the approaching sentries. If his bayard didn’t activate in the next few seconds, he was royally screwed.

“On my way.” Keith replied, and Lance squeezed his eyes shut as the footsteps came ever closer.

“If I don’t make it, make sure-”

“Don’t talk like that.” Keith snapped, and Lance heard the sound of his bayard slicing through sentries. “I’m coming to get you, just hold your position.”

“Make sure my family knows what happened.” Lance choked out, bayard flickering between rifle and trident but refusing to form anything corporeal. The robot sentry came to a stop in front of him, and Lance threw himself at it with a battle cry that tore at his tight throat. A blaster bolt caught him in the shoulder, and a rifle butt to the gut had him collapsing on the floor. The robot turned him over onto his back, and Lance stared up at the gun barrel as his good arm was pinned.

This was it, this was how he died. Alone, in space, on an alien battleship. Not even heroically holding off a battalion to buy time for his friends to escape, but taken down by a lone robot. The sentry leaned on his good arm, and Lance screamed in wordless agony as he felt the bones crack. He was going to die. He was really going to die. His bayard was out of reach, his arms useless, a rifle pointed at his forehead at point blank range.

“Lance!” Keith screamed, and something in his voice jolted Lance from his thoughts. He still had one weapon left, and even if it was more theory than weapon, he had to try. He grunted with pain as he lifted his free hand, grabbing onto the sentry’s leg. It looked down at his hand, confusion evident even on its inanimate face, and Lance _pushed_. It felt like ice flowing down his arms, through his veins, and where Blue had needed his energy to wake up the robot was running perfectly fine. It seized up at the influx of energy and Lance pushed harder, a muffled scream coming out through his clenched teeth.

The sentry exploded without warning, the blast forcing Lance’s head back down to the floor, and he could vaguely hear Keith shouting his name over the ringing in his ears. “‘Stoy bien.” he mumbled, suddenly feeling very tired and very cold. The rushing feeling in his arms abated, and he fought to keep his eyes open but he was just so _tired_.

As he finally stopped fighting, limbs going lax, he heard footsteps pounding on the metal. Arms slid under him, pulling him up off the floor, and he slumped against Keith’s breastplate with a groan. Keith was saying something, shaking him roughly, but the words washed right over Lance like water. He was so tired, not even the pain of his arms being jostled was enough to draw more than a whimper from his throat.

Keith was saying his name, Lance realized belatedly. Saying his name and holding his head so Lance had to look at him. He looked pale, panicked, afraid. Lance grinned, and tilted his head to rest against Keith’s breastplate as his eyes slid shut. “Vínculo.” he mumbled, and then sleep claimed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes: “Me cago en la mierda.” is not a direct translation of fml, but a phrase with similar intent. “Vínculo.” is also not direct, but basically means “we bonded” and it’s what Keith says in the Spanish dub of Voltron.


	6. Chapter 6

Keith swore as he bolted into Red’s mouth, her jaws clanging shut behind him to seal out the explosions. In his arms, Lance groaned softly, face scrunched with pain.

“Keith, are you alright?” Shiro shouted over the comms.

“Yeah!” Keith replied, slipping past the rear airlock that separated the ramp area from the rest of this level. “We’re in Red.”

“Well hurry back to the castle, we can’t keep these fighters occupied forever.” Pidge snapped.

“On it.” he said, laying Lance out carefully on the tiny bed in Red’s cramped living quarters. Lance made a soft sound as he was set down, not pained but distinctly unhappy, and Keith’s heart did a funny little flip in his chest. He hurried out of the room and up to Red’s cockpit, the controls all but leaping into his hands. A few galran fighters fell to his Lion as he headed back to the castle, and as soon as they were in range he left Red to pilot herself in for landing. He slid down the ladder to the lower level, and went to gather Lance back up in his arms.

The Blue Paladin whined, thin and pained, and Keith made a low, almost inaudible sound in the back of his throat. “Don’t worry.” he said as he headed towards Red’s ramp, feeling the telltale rumble under his feet that meant she’d settled in her hangar bay. “We’re gonna get you in a cryo-pod asap.” he held Lance tighter, as much as he could without putting too much pressure on his injured shoulder, and Keith rushed out of Red as soon as her mouth was open enough to allow him.

“Give him to me.” Coran demanded, arms out before Keith even had both feet off the ramp. He clutched Lance closer to his chest, and glared at the advisor.

“I’ll carry him, you get a pod ready.” he said firmly, voice sounding much steadier than he felt. “He needs to go in as soon as possible.”

“Alright.” Coran nodded, his eyes like steel. Keith followed him out of the hangar, moving as fast as he could without jostling Lance too much. Lance had to be okay. He had to.

\---

The process of removing Lance’s armour and the outer layer of his flight suit took longer than Keith liked, but all in all the entire trip from the battleship to Lance’s cryo-pod was one big blur. Shiro stood next to him, an arm around his shoulders in silent support and comfort, and Keith leaned into the half hug as much as he could without taking his eyes off Lance’s pod. It was still reading him, though it had identified several fractures in his right forearm and the blaster wound in his left shoulder easily enough.

“I’m sorry.” Pidge said softly, sliding in on Keith’s other side. “I was supposed to be his partner.”

“You were extracting information.” Shiro said, his voice level and soothing. “Lance knew what he was doing when he drew those sentries away from you.”

“Doesn’t make him any less of an idiot.” Keith muttered, blinking back the tears that threatened to well up in his eyes. Stupid, reckless, self-sacrificing moron. He could see why Red liked him so much.

“The data is uploading smoothly.” Allura said as she walked in, Hunk and Coran in tow. “Thank you, Paladins.”

“Thank Lance.” Pidge said, stepping away from Keith’s side. “He’s the one who kept the sentries off my back long enough for me to do anything useful.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Allura smiled, but the expression fell as she looked at where Lance was twitching slightly in the pod. “He shouldn’t be able to move.” she frowned, stepping closer.

“It’s probably just a bad dream.” Keith said, and almost winced. Lance hadn’t even told Hunk about his nightmares, he couldn’t just blurt it out to the whole team like that. “Like how Shiro remembered that stuff about his arm once?” he said quickly, and Hunk nodded.

“It’s probably nothing to worry about, Princess.” Hunk said, laying a hand on her arm with a reassuring smile.

“Well, Lance isn’t going to be popping back out for at least another varga.” Shiro gestured at the flashing red on the pod’s readout which indicated Lance’s broken arm. “We should debrief, and then I think we could all use some rest. It’s been a long day.”

“You can say that again.” Pidge groaned, stretching their arms over their head as they started towards the door.

“It’s been a _really_ long day.” Hunk chuckled, ruffling Pidge’s hair.

“Keith?” Coran tilted his head, and Keith glanced at the pod one last time. Lance’s face was scrunched in something uncomfortably close to agony, his mouth forming words silenced by the pod wrapped around him. The sight made Keith’s chest hurt almost as much as the knowledge that he couldn’t do anything to help.

“I’m coming.” he said, turning away and following the rest of the team towards the door.

He’d gotten about three steps before the pod started beeping loudly, and he turned on his heel to see a whole bunch of lights flashing red as Lance’s eyes flew open. He screamed, inaudible through the cryo-pod’s secure seal, and slammed both his palms against the clear pane. Light emanated from his hands, brightening almost instantly to a painful intensity, and then it seemed like everything exploded at once.

The lights blew with an electronic screech, the translucent face of the cryo-pod burst outwards in a spray of luminescent cubes, and gravity turned off. Lance groaned and slumped forwards, drifting out of the cryo-pod. Keith didn’t even think, just pushed off the floor and towards Lance. He caught the Blue Paladin up in his arms, and held him close with one as he caught the cryo-pod in the other. Something sharp cut into his fingers, blood beading out of the wound almost immediately, but he refused to let go.

Lance clung to him, breaths fast and shallow, words tumbling out of his mouth so fast Keith wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to understand them even if they weren’t in Spanish. He was shaking though, trembling almost violently, and Keith held him as tight as he could with one arm. “It’s okay.” he murmured into Lance’s hair. “It’s okay, you’re safe. We’re on the castle, you’re safe.”

Lance shuddered harder, and Keith pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s okay.” he murmured, scanning the room as well as he could without uncurling from around Lance’s tense frame. Hunk and Coran were by a wall panel, Pidge lighting it with their suit’s flashlight, and he couldn’t see Shiro or Allura but Shiro had his jetpack and wouldn’t let Allura get hurt when the others turned the gravity back on. Lance whimpered, and Keith gave him another squeeze.

“It’s okay.” he soothed again. “You’re safe, we’re all safe. You just had a bad dream.”

“Get ready, everyone.” Coran called out. “Gravity coming back on in one, two, t-” he yelped as he fell to the floor, and Keith hissed in pain as his injured hand slid down the sharp, broken edge of the pod’s opening.

“That wasn’t three ticks, Hunk!” Coran protested, barely audible over the sound of a jetpack somewhere above and behind him. The lights hadn’t come back on, but emergency lighting was turning on along the baseboards and combined with the light from their suits it was enough to see by.

“Sorry, Sorry.” Hunk chuckled. “Seconds are shorter.”

Keith tuned them out, and looked down at Lance, cradled in his arms for the second time today. He seemed to be relaxing somewhat, and Keith exhaled a good bit of the tension from his chest. “Go to sleep, Lance.” he murmured, releasing the pod and arranging his arms under the Blue Paladin. “I’ve got you.”

Lance smiled, and actually nuzzled against Keith’s breastplate before going fully limp.

“What the quiznack was that?” Allura swore as the jetpack noise stopped, and Keith held Lance tighter.

“I don’t know.” he said, standing up and keeping Lance’s weight close to his chest. “But I’m going to take Lance to his room.”

“Probably better than putting him in another pod.” Shiro nodded, visibly slipping back into leader mode. “Pidge, see what you can get from the pod on what made it explode, we don’t want that happening again. Hunk, help Coran see if anything else was affected.”

“On it.” Pidge nodded sharply.  
“Will do.” Hunk replied.

“What will you do?” Allura asked as Keith headed towards the door after the others.

“I’ll get Lance’s things and bring them to his room.” Shiro said calmly. “Along with a splint and sling for his arm.”

Keith left the room before Allura could respond, and looked down at Lance’s face as his feet carried him through the darkened halls. He had a terrible sinking feeling that this wasn’t a malfunction of the castle at all.


	7. Chapter 7

Lance woke with a groan, and immediately there was a gloved hand brushing his hair back from his face. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” Keith murmured, and Lance grunted as he moved to bat the touch away. The grunt turned into a groan of pain when his arm protested, and Keith made shushing noises as he pushed Lance’s arm back down to where it had been lying across his chest. “Don’t try to move that one just yet.” he said softly.

“Are the cryo-pods offline or something?” he grumbled after a few seconds, opening his eyes when Keith didn’t reply. The Red Paladin wasn’t looking at him, chewing on his lower lip anxiously. “Keith?” he pushed himself up with his less-busted arm, and Keith sighed heavily.

“I should’ve let Hunk tell you.” he muttered.

“Tell me what?” Lance asked, something cold coiling in his gut.

“After you passed out, we got you back here and put you in a pod.” Keith said slowly, looking at his hands. “It looked like you were having a nightmare, and then...” he trailed off, and Lance shivered at the memory of his earlier dream. He’d been trapped in the crystal again, the castle sucking heat as well as life energy from his body to fuel its weapons and defenses. “You woke up.” Keith glanced at Lance, his face solemn. “You woke up, and you sent a massive charge of energy through the pod into the castle’s systems.”

“What?” Lance breathed. He’d remember that, surely. He didn’t even remember waking up after his last nightmare, let alone- “Wait, if I somehow supercharged the pod I was in, why is my arm still busted?” he gestured at the arm the robot had stepped on, which he now realized was tightly wrapped in bandages and resting in a sling.

“Because you blew it up.” Keith replied flatly. “The pod, the lights in the room, you even shorted out the gravity and life support for a bit, but Hunk and Coran got those back online quick enough.”

Lance looked down at his hands. “How?” he asked, and Keith sighed.

“That’s the worst part.” he said ominously, and Lance looked up to see Keith staring at the wall. “Pidge managed to get the pod’s diagnostics back, what it pulled before you woke up at least, and it showed...” he groaned, and hung his head in his hands. “Fuck, Lance, it showed most of your skeleton as being made of balmeran crystal.”

“Oh.” Lance blinked. That, actually made some of his nightmares make sense. Balmera were petrified but still alive, still aware of the creatures living on their skin and tunnelling through their stony flesh. He wondered if the crystals themselves had some level of sentience, if they were aware of their energy being drained. “Well, do I at least have a crystal skull?” he chuckled weakly. Keith stared at him with blank incomprehension, and Lance sighed. “How bad is it?”

“Bad.” Keith’s voice sounded tight, and his hands curled into fists against his knees. “We need to get you to a balmera, or-” he inhaled sharply, and Lance’s chest ached for reasons completely unrelated to the bone pain he’d been living with the past few weeks. Which was probably his skeleton turning to crystal, now that he thought about it.

“Or I die.” Lance finished. Something which could transform bone to crystal probably wouldn’t stop there, and it was only a matter of time until it took one of his vital organs. “So we wormhole to the nearest balmera, free it, and they fix me up.”

“That’s the problem.” Keith laughed, a harsh and bitter sound Lance would be happy to never hear again. “You completely smoked the system that aligns the teludav lenses, and Coran doesn’t know how long it’ll take to fix all the damage, or even if we have the parts.” his voice came out strangled near the end, and Lance reached out with his unbroken arm to grab one of Keith’s wrists.

“Well, at least there’s a bright side.” he said with as much cheer as he could muster. “As long as Allura’s around, Voltron don’t go down with me.”

Keith gaped at him, and Lance barely saw him move before he was flat on his back and his cheek was stinging something awful. “You’re such an idiot!” Keith yelled, and stormed out of the room. Lance lifted a hand, and pressed on the point of impact with a grimace.

“¿Cuál es su problema?” he muttered, rubbing his cheek.

\---

Once he was dressed, splinted arm stuck under his shirt, Lance headed to the bridge. Coran and Hunk were pulling apart a console, and Allura seemed to be directing the mice in helping them He hesitated in the doorway, looking around at the screens which flickered with static or simply hung empty in the air. He’d done this, he’d damaged the castle, broken the only home Allura and Coran had left. He probably wasn’t welcome here. He was taking a step back towards the doors when Hunk sat up with an exhausted grunt, and their eyes locked. Lance froze, and a wide smile split Hunk’s face.

“Lance!” he cried, scrambling to his feet and running over to scoop him up in a hug. “Good to see you on your feet, buddy.”

“Did I really do all this?” Lance asked, stepping back when Hunk’s arms loosened and gesturing at the destruction.

“Um, kinda?” Hunk gave him a sheepish grin.

“Yes.” Allura said, not cold but simply stating a fact. “It would seem that the crystal shards embedded in you by the explosion back on Arus, in addition to slowly crystallising your skeletal structure, have been amplifying your natural production of quintessence.” she held out a hand to the mice, and they tossed a dark, smoky crystal into her palm.

“Oh.” Lance looked down as she stood, curling his fingers in the hem of his jacket. “Princess, I’m so-”

“Which is why I’m tasking you with recharging the castle’s burnt-out crystals.” Allura spoke over him, crossing the room to hold out the smokey magic battery the mice had just given her. “Even before your power surge blew half the breakers in the ship, the castle had many crystals which needed replacing but simply were not worth the trouble.”

Lance carefully took the chunk of translucent rock from Allura’s fingers, and held it up to look at. It flickered dimly, and looked like smoke was swirling within the crystalline walls. He shivered, and closed his fingers around it. “I’m not sure how I could do that.” he admitted.

“Hunk and Coran confirmed for me that you have been having trouble sleeping.” she said, turning away from him. “I’m no medical expert, but if your quintessence production has been abnormally high and you passed out after forcing it into the castle’s systems...” she trailed off, and Lance’s eyes widened.

“Oh!” he looked down at the crystal, and tried to recall the feeling of forcing his energy into something else. A cool chill ran down his arm, and the gem’s dim glow seeped out from between his fingers.

“Holy shit.” Hunk breathed, and Lance laughed as he held the crystal up between two fingers. Even just that little bit of energy gone, he no longer felt compelled to find some way to exhaust himself. He could sleep again.

“Thank you, Princess.” he smiled, clutching the crystal tight in his fist again.

“It’s nothing.” Allura waved the gratitude away with a small, demure smile.

“Ha!” Coran cried triumphantly, pulling his head out of the console. “The speakers should be working now, Princess, barring any which were damaged by the surge.”

“Thank you, Coran.” Allura gave him a nod, and Lance looked down at his fist again. He wondered how much this little shard of crystal could hold...


	8. Chapter 8

One solemn debrief later, Lance settled down on his bed with a small tray of burnt-out crystals. According to Coran, at the castle’s maximum speed it would take half a phoeb to reach Balmera 95 Vox. According to Pidge, there was no guarantee the crystal wouldn’t have spread to his soft tissues by then, including his heart. Lance had tried to lighten the mood a bit by cracking his crystal skull joke again, but nobody had laughed. He shut his eyes and exhaled, focusing on the little glowing gem in his hand. It was easier this time, to call on the energy swirling in him and pull it down his arm. His hand grew cold, the crystal warming by comparison until it felt like the bottom of his laptop, and Lance yelped as it burst into what felt like a million pieces.

He hissed, reflexively tightening his hand against the pain, then forced himself to uncurl his fingers one by one. His palm was a bloody mess, full of crystal shards, and he groaned as he slumped forwards. Great, now he had to go get all of this pulled out. That would take forever, and Coran would fuss and insist bandaging his hand was more important than fixing the teludav. Of course, he could always try to pull them all out himself. Coran probably wasn’t in Medical right now since it was well after dinner, and it wasn’t like he’d never yanked slivers out of his hand before. Admittedly those had been wood splinters, and he’d missed a few, but these crystal pieces were way bigger.

He wrapped his hand in a small towel from the bathroom, and stuck his head out into the hall. Empty, perfect. He slipped past the others’ doors, and once the elevator doors shut behind him he relaxed slightly. Home free. The trip to Medical was brief, and as he reached for the operation panel the door slid open. Someone literally walked into him, and he stumbled back with a curse. Clutching his injured hand to his chest, he glared at- Keith. Of course it was Keith, the one person on the ship who seemed to be pissed at him right now.

“What are you doing here?” he asked sharply.

“Fixing the bandages on my hand.” Keith held up his hand so Lance could see the stark white bandages wrapped tight around his fingers. “What are you doing here?”

Lance silently held up his towel-wrapped hand, which was now red in a few places, and Keith’s eyes went comically wide. “Holy shit, what happened?” he asked, grabbing Lance by the wrist and yanking him into the room.

“I, uh, overloaded one of the crystals Allura gave me?” he admitted sheepishly as he sat down on the paper-topped chair and let Keith remove the towel. It looked worse, now that his blood had spread all over his hand. “It kinda blew up.”

“ _Lance_.” Keith said firmly, his voice heavy with some emotion Lance couldn’t identify. “Hold still, I’ll get tweezers.”

“I can handle it myself.” Lance huffed, pulling his hand in towards his chest.

“Your other arm is in a sling, under your shirt.” Keith said flatly, meeting Lance’s eyes with a level purple gaze. “How were you planning on operating tweezers?”

Lance opened his mouth, closed it again, and glared. Keith smirked, and turned to rifle through the drawers until he came up with a pair of tweezers and a shallow metal dish. Lance obligingly held his hand out, and tried not to wince as Keith began to slowly, methodically, pull out each and every shard.

“Why are you doing this?” Lance asked after a few minutes of silence broken only by the quiet plinks of crystal striking metal.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Keith retorted, not looking up from where he was carefully pulling a long shard out of Lance’s finger.

“You’ve been pissed at me since we got back from the battleship.” Lance pointed out. Keith’s hands stilled, his fingers curling around Lance’s until they were dangerously close to holding hands.

“I’m not angry with you, Lance.” he said in a soft voice.

“My shiner disagrees.” Lance huffed, tilting his head to emphasise the bruise forming on his cheek.

“Okay, maybe I was a bit angry at you.” Keith frowned at their joined hands. “I had to tell you you’re dying, and it was like you didn’t even _care_. There’s no silver lining to your death, no matter how you look at it.”

“There is, though.” Lance argued. “Pidge, Hunk, Allura, they’re irreplaceable. You, me, and Shiro? As long as it’s only one of us missing, Allura can step in and the Lions will let us shuffle to keep Voltron.”

“We could _never_ replace you.” Keith insisted, head snapping up to stare at Lance with startling intensity. “I-” he seemed to choke on his words and looked down at Lance’s hand again, moving the tweezers towards another shard of crystal. “Allura can pilot Blue, but you’re her Paladin.” he said softly, grip on Lance’s fingers loosening. “We need you.”

Keith’s mouth opened again, but he closed it without making a sound. Lance decided not to call him out on his lie.

\---

He held up his free hand and stared at his nails, at the cloudy tendrils of blue coiling through them. “I wonder if this is making it spread faster.” he murmured, looking down at his other hand. He’d switched to using that one to recharge crystals after Keith bandaged his hand from the first explosion, and two more blown crystals later he was still using it to channel excess energy into the altean batteries.

“It better not be.” Keith muttered, kicking at his thigh. After he caught Lance trying to clean and bandage the injuries from the third explosion, Keith had made it his personal duty to keep Lance company while he worked with crystals. “I’d have to kick Allura’s ass for getting you to agree to this, and she can beat me with her eyes shut.”

“Careful, Mullet.” Lance teased, shutting his eyes as he pushed more of his energy into the rock in his hand. “That almost sounded treasonous.”

“It’s only treason if it’s your own country.” Keith snorted. “The word you’re looking for is mutinous.”

Lance chuckled, and slowed the stream of energy through his palm to a trickle. “I’m totally telling Shiro that you’re planning mutiny in my name.”

“He’ll side with me.” Keith said with easy confidence. Lance rolled his eyes.

“You know, you don’t have to stay with me while I do this.” Lance yawned, pushing energy into the crystal in his hand. “I’ve got the hang of it now.”

“I’m not leaving this room without you until dinner.” Keith said drily.

“Well, you don’t have to stay here when I’m passed out.” Lance huffed.

“Like you’d come get me when you woke up.” Keith scoffed.

Lance grunted, and set down the newly charged crystal in the container Allura had given him to hold the finished products. If there was a bright side to Keith watching him work, it was that it meant none of the others were doing it. Keith already knew about the nightmares, which was bad enough. Lance didn’t want any of the others to give him pitying looks over his screwed up dreams the way Keith did, with that expression that made Lance feel like his heart was trying to turn itself and his entire ribcage inside out.

He reached for another crystal, and Keith nudged his leg with one heel. “Hey, take a nap.” he said softly. “At this rate you’re gonna overcharge another one.”

Lance grumbled, but he couldn’t deny that Keith had a point. The second and third explosions had both happened at the end of charging sessions, and he didn’t want to pass out while Keith fixed up his hand _again_. He tossed the hunk of crystal back into the thing of uncharged ones, and laid down on top of his blanket with his back to Keith. “Wake me for dinner if I’m asleep when Hunk calls it.” he mumbled, and Keith made an affirmative sound.

Sleep dragged him under quickly, and he could’ve sworn he felt fingers carding through his hair as he drifted off. But Keith was the only other person in the room, so it had to be his imagination.


	9. Chapter 9

Lance stared at his hand, hanging out of the end of the splint. He’d told himself that the hint of blue at the tips of his fingers was an optical illusion caused by his crystalline nails, that the stiffness in his hand came from sleeping on it, that the lack of sensation was a precursor to pins and needles; Now, though, it was undeniable. His hand had turned completely to crystal overnight, fingers frozen half-curled and wrist locked in place. He hadn’t pushed up his sleeve to check how far it went yet, but it had definitely taken at least half his forearm. His chest ached, and he wondered how long he had before the crystal spread out from his ribs and stilled his lungs, his heart.

“Lance?” Keith knocked on the door. “You up?”

“S- Yeah.” Lance’s voice shook, and he pulled his arm closer to his chest.

“Is something wrong?” Keith asked, and Lance suppressed a hysterical giggle. What _wasn’t_ wrong lately? “Who am I kidding, everything’s wrong.” Keith sighed. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Lance nodded, swinging his legs out of bed. The door slid open, and he saw the exact moment Keith noticed. His eyes widened, face paling, and Lance looked down at his hand.

“When did this happen?” Keith asked, sitting down on Lance’s right and looking from his hand to his face.

“Overnight.” Lance curled his fingers, and only his left hand responded. “I’m not going to make it to the balmera, am I?”

“Of course you are.” Keith said firmly, grabbing Lance’s crystallized hand. He couldn’t feel it, not the warmth or the pressure or anything. “Hunk and Pidge are working on repairing the teludav, we’re not going to let you die.”

“Why not?” he asked, gripping his blanket tightly with his functioning hand. “Even if the balmerans know how to stop this from spreading, I can’t be a Paladin anymore.”

“Don’t say that.” Keith said sternly.

“Why not?” Lance challenged again, lifting his head to meet Keith’s intense gaze. “I can’t fly, can’t fight, I can’t even hold my bayard anymore! Allura can pilot Blue better than me, and we’ve got limited resources. The math-”

“Fuck the math!” Keith shouted, pulling Lance’s frozen hand towards his chest. “I’m not letting you die, you moron!”

“Maybe you should!” Lance yelled back, trying to pull his hand free. It was harder when he couldn’t uncurl his fingers, and Keith managed to keep a firm grip on him. “I’m usele-”

Keith punched him in the sternum mid-sentence, knocking him down onto his bed. “Don’t you _ever_ call yourself useless!” he shot to his feet, dragging Lance up by his half-crystallized arm. “You don’t need to _do_ anything to have a place here!”

Lance stared, mouth opening and closing silently as words failed him. He’d never seen Keith this mad, his cheeks flushed pink and chest heaving. The hand wrapped around Lance’s was white-knuckled, his grip so tight it looked painful. Lance still couldn’t feel a thing.

“I don’t care if you’re a Paladin or not, I don’t want to lose you.” Keith’s voice went tight at the end, and Lance realized there were tears streaking down his burning cheeks. “I can’t lose you too.” he half gasped, and Lance reached up to grab Keith’s jacket sleeve.

Keith sat down next to him with just a gentle pull, and Lance twisted to throw his left arm around his back in a one-armed hug. “I’m not going anywhere.” he murmured, pulling Keith’s head against his shoulder. Keith slumped against him, and Lance exhaled slowly. The teludav needed to be repaired anyways. If the team chose to go to a balmera first once it was operational, well, Hunk and Shay hadn’t seen each other in a while.

\---

When he walked into the dining room, Lance was keenly aware of how every eye lasered in on his arm. He’d removed the sling, since the fractured bones were now encased in solid crystal, and his crystal hand hung heavy at his side. He took his seat in silence, and when Shiro’s gaze hadn’t left him by the end of the meal he lifted his arm with a practiced chuckle. “What, jealous you’re not the only one with a space arm anymore?” he joked. “I mean, I’m not surprised, mine looks way cooler, but it’s okay. We can be space arm buddies.” he laughed again, but it came out thin and forced, edging on hysterical.

“Can you move your fingers?” Pidge asked, and Lance shook his head.

“Can’t feel anything, either.” he said, fumbling his spork slightly with his left hand as he set it down.

Hunk reached across the table, and Lance obligingly held out his right arm so his friend could get a closer look at the opaque crystal. Pale, smokey particulates swirled under his translucent ‘skin’ with the motion, and Hunk frowned. “Why just this arm?” he mused aloud.

“Dunno.” Lance shrugged. “I just woke up like this.”

“I could run some scans.” Coran suggested. “See how far it’s progressed in the rest of your soft tissues.”

“That’s not-”

“Do it.” Allura said, standing and pushing her chair out from the table. “Hunk, Pidge, I don’t care what you have to do, you’re getting the teludav fixed in whatever timeframe Coran gives you.”

“Of course, Princess.” Pidge nodded.

“Lance, if you could come with me?” Coran offered a hand, which Lance ignored.

“I’ll grab the sling from my room and meet you in Medical.” he said softly.

“Good call.” Coran nodded once. Keith stood as if to follow, but Shiro stopped him with a hand on his arm and something about dishes. Lance wasn’t sure if he was relieved by that or not.

\---

“Alright, gloves off.” Coran said briskly as Lance boosted himself up onto the surreally normal patient chair. “And shirt too, I’ll need to scan you without any fabric in the way.”

Lance looked down at his hands, at the gloves Keith had loaned him to make it easier to train with bandages on his palms. He didn’t really need it on his right hand anymore though, did he? The velcro resisted at first, but gave loudly as he pulled harder. Coran gasped, and Lance looked up as pale fingers wrapped around his frozen hand.

“When did this happen?” Coran demanded, and Lance felt a strange thrill run through him. Keith hadn’t told Coran about the exploded crystals, about pulling the shards from Lance’s skin, about any of it. The realization made him happier than it probably should’ve, some small thing in his chest glowing bright and warm to know that Keith hadn’t shared those quiet moments with anyone else.

“Which time?” he chuckled, and Coran looked at him aghast.

“Lance, what have you been doing?”

“Just charging crystals!” he insisted, waving his left hand in front of his chest. “But sometimes when I’m not paying attention they kinda blow up, and I’ve been coming in here to wash and bandage it.” he said, not quite lying. Coran didn’t need to know exactly how he’d been getting it washed and bandaged, only that it had been done.

“Well, there’s one question answered.” Coran huffed. “Now get your shirt off, I need to have a look at your back.”

Lance complied, and as Coran prodded and hummed at his back he carefully unwound the bandages from around his immobile hand. The crystal looked a smidge closer to his elbow than it had when he got dressed for breakfast. “What’s the prognosis, doc?” he asked, and Coran sighed.

“Thankfully, the crystal doesn’t seem to be spreading from the shards embedded in your back.” he didn’t sound particularly thankful. “But I can’t be sure until I do a full scan of your torso.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m needed in training anymore.” Lance gestured with his translucent arm, and Coran frowned at him.

“Perhaps not in afternoon training, but they’re doing team bonding exercises right now.”

“Without half the team?” Lance raised an eyebrow at the thought of Keith and Shiro sitting alone in the training room with those headbands on, trying to form a holographic Voltron with just two Lions. “I’d like to see them try.”

“And you’ll get to, once I do these scans.” Coran placated distractedly, already pulling up a screen which presumably operated the machine he needed. As it shone a light up and down his torso, he wondered how many days he had left. How many more times he’d be able to sit in on a training session before the crystal crept all the way up his arm and into his chest.

How long it would be until he became just another person to leave Keith behind.


	10. Chapter 10

“All hands, brace yourselves.” Coran’s voice came over the intercom. “Things may be about to get a little bumpy.”

Lance braced a heel against the floor, his operational hand gripping tight at the arm of his chair as Allura powered up the teludav. His harness came out of the seat without prompting, and he winced as his crystal arm was pressed into his diaphragm. The castle shook as it propelled itself forward towards the wormhole. Lance shut his eyes and whispered a prayer under his breath as they entered the not-space. The shaking intensified, but nobody was screaming so he cracked an eye open. Crackles of white lightning chased them along the sides of the swirling blue tunnel, and Lance held his breath as they approached the other end.

Miraculously, they exited without issue, and the crystal-studded surface of Shay’s balmera filled half of the viewscreen. Hunk and Pidge whooped, techno-babbling at each other, and Lance slumped in his seat. “They did it.” Keith laughed, and Lance felt a smile tug briefly at his lips. “I told you we wouldn’t let you die.” he said, clapping one gloved hand on Lance’s shoulder and smiling down at him.

“What if they can’t stop it?” he asked, and Keith’s face filled with horror for a second before settling into steely resolve.

“Then we take you to a space hospital and do whatever it takes to make them save you.” he said firmly, grip tightening on Lance’s shoulder. “You don’t get to give up when we haven’t even asked yet.”

Lance looked down at the lump of his crystal arm under his shirt. He should be happy, but the dread coiled in his gut had somehow grown even heavier. If he died from side effects of injuries he gained saving someone, well, he was a Paladin, it was his job to put his life on the line for others. He’d made his peace with dying young, with not being able to get married or have a family. But to live on with an arm and leg frozen and useless? To need someone’s help to walk around, to have to do everything with his left hand, to be nothing but dead weight on a team that couldn’t afford to be slowed down?

He wasn’t sure he’d be able to live with that.

“C’mon.” Keith said, pulling him out of his head and back into the moment. “I’ll help you to the shuttle.” he was smiling as he offered his hand, relief shining through his face so brightly Lance couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.

“Thanks.” he mumbled, unbuckling his harness and letting Keith pull him to his feet. His bare left foot clinked softly on the metal floor with each step, and he was momentarily grateful that he’d decided to test his theory about channelling with that foot and not the other. At least this way Keith could slide in under his arm like a human crutch instead of someone having to carry him.

“It’s nothing.” Keith waved his free hand dismissively as he kept pace with Lance, not complaining about the awkward gait or slow pace forced by the fact that Lance’s leg had frozen up to the knee and he couldn’t fully straighten it anymore.

“What if there’s no treatment?” he asked softly. “What if we go down there and they say there’s no way to stop it?”

“Hey, what’d I say about giving up?” Keith shook him gently. “You can’t be the first person to get crystal shards stuck in you, and if anyone knows how to treat something caused by balmeran crystal it’s balmerans.”

“But if it’s terminal, if I’m too far gone to save...” he hesitated, slowing to a halt and refusing to look at Keith’s face. “Do you think Allura would let me go home?”

“If she doesn’t, I’ll take Red and bring you home myself.” Keith swore. “But I won’t have to, because _you’re going to be fine_.” he insisted. “I won’t let you die.”

Lance opened his mouth, then shut it again without saying anything. Keith, once he made up his mind about something, was almost as stubborn as Hunk. Lance didn’t have the heart to argue him into spending his energy on something that wasn’t a lost cause.

\---

Keith supported him on their way out of the shuttle, once they touched down on the balmera’s surface, and Lance couldn’t exactly hear because of the distance but it was impossible to miss the whispers spreading through the crowd. He studied the ground, half wishing it would just open up and swallow him, until a pair of bare alien feet entered his vision. Keith tensed at his side, arm tightening around Lance’s back.

“This one is a healer.” the balmeran said as Lance looked up, and Keith relaxed immediately.

“Can you help him?” he asked, an unfamiliar pitch to his voice. Was Keith... anxious?

“We will try.” the balmeran nodded solemnly, and turned slightly to hold a hand out to Lance. “I am called Gacrux.”

“Lance.” he managed a small smile, removing his arm from around Keith’s shoulder and balancing on his right leg as he shook the alien’s strangely shaped hand.

“Lance, if you would come with me, my assistants and I can perform a few tests which will give us a better understanding of your condition.”

“Will there be needles?” Lance grimaced, gripping Gacrux’s forearm for support as he limped along next to them.

“Not likely.” Gacrux chuckled. Lance managed a flicker of a smile, but it faded quickly as they headed down a wide, curving ramp that lead down into the balmera’s body. He wondered if this balmera had been able to feel the tunnel being carved like he had in his dreams, if it had been scared of the comparatively tiny beings which settled beneath its skin.

“My practice is here.” Gacrux said at length, leading Lance into-

“Huh.” he looked around the room, which was set up almost identically to the one on the castle. “I guess doctor’s offices are universal.” the only difference was the building materials, and the fact that the chair had a large gap between the seat and back to accommodate tailed patients.

“Now, I’ll have to ask you to undress.” Gacrux said, and Lance flushed.

“All the way?”

“Just your outer clothing should suffice.” they soothed, and Lance nodded. An older balmeran came in as he was shimmying out of his jeans, and Lance squeaked and fell off of the chair in his attempt to duck behind it.

“Gacrux, you called?” the newly arrived balmeran asked.

“Yes. Lance, this is my assistant, Molisar.” Gacrux gestured at the older alien. “He is here to help.”

Lance pulled himself back to his feet, wincing at a twinge from his functioning knee, then turned his back and boosted himself up onto the chair to finish pulling off his jeans. “Where should I put these?” he asked, holding them up in his left hand.

“I’ll take them.” Molisar held out his hands, and Lance relinquished his clothing before turning to sit properly on the patient chair.

“Oh, my.” Gacrux made a distressed sounding clicking noise. “How long ago was the crystal implanted in you?”

“Uh...” Lance wracked his brain. “At least a phoeb ago?” he said weakly. Gacrux gave him a flat look. “Okay, it happened a day or two before we came here and chased off the galra.” he elaborated, and both balmeran’s eyes widened.

“And it’s already progressed this far?” Molisar breathed.

“If it’s spreading that quickly, we have no time to lose.” Gacrux said, turning to their assistant. “Molisar, ready an encasement.” Molisar nodded, and Gacrux turned to Lance with a solemn expression. “I must tell you, it is all but unheard of for a condition such as yours to reach this stage completely untreated. But your crystals appear to be unbroken and unspent, and I have faith that with Balmera’s aid, you will make a full recovery.”

Lance nodded and swung his legs over the edge of the chair, the motion made somewhat awkward by the inflexibility of his left knee. Something was trying to claw its way out of his chest, burning painfully hot against the inside of his ribs as Gacrux gave him a simple sleeveless tunic to put on. He refused to indulge it, swallowing the emotion as it threatened to overwhelm him. He was human, there was no guarantee any of this would even work. For all he knew, he was going to his death.

It would be foolish to hope that this would actually save him.


	11. Chapter 11

Keith shifted against the uneven wall, trying to find a position where nothing was digging into his back. It didn’t quite work, but he managed to find a spot that was marginally less uncomfortable. Doctor Gacrux had only been able to tell them it would take ‘at least a movement’ for Lance to wake up, and it was nearing the end of the fourth quintant since that deadline passed. They’d all taken to keeping watch over his stony pod in shifts, but the longer the wait dragged on the tighter Keith found himself winding. What if the balmera couldn’t heal him? What if he’d suffocated in the encasement? What if they were doing nothing but wasting time here?

What if Lance had been right to say they shouldn’t make him a priority?

He shook his head vigorously, slamming his datapad down on the ground next to him. As if he could’ve just sat back and let Lance die. As if _any_ of them could’ve lived with themselves if they didn’t do everything in their power to try to save him. Lance had to wake up, he had to. It wasn’t an option for him to not come back. Keith looked at the near-featureless stretch of wall, the slight bluish discolouration of the dirt wrapped around Lance which Nurse Molisar had assured them all was completely normal for a procedure such as this. The wall which now had a crack in it which hadn’t been there a minute ago.

Keith shot to his feet, fumbling for his communicator for a second as the crack spread before his eyes. “Guys, it’s happening!” he said breathlessly into the mic.

He didn’t bother to listen to their replies, dropping his communicator with his data pad and rushing over to pry at the cracks in the dry, crumbly dirt wrapped around Lance. He could’ve sworn it was firmer even an hour ago, but then again, they were dealing with a living planet, it might be making the dirt deliberately loose for easier removal.

Keith backed up a few steps, and threw himself at the wall shoulder first. Sure enough, the impact shook free almost all of the dirt covering Lance. Not the stuff packed around him, but he was now exposed with only a thin hospital gown for modesty. Keith stepped back to get a good look, and the relieved laugh died in his throat. Lance was crystal, head to toe. He looked peaceful, his eyes closed and the edges of his mouth curled up in the tiniest little smile. Keith choked on a sob.

“No.” he breathed, stepping forward again and reaching out to cradle Lance’s cheek. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Lance didn’t move, as still and beautiful as a statue, not the slightest spark of life left in the crystal which bore his image. “You were supposed to come back!” Keith yelled, and pounded his fist against Lance’s chest.

A splintering sound filled the air like a gunshot, and Keith jerked back as fear spiked through his chest. Had he broken Lance’s corpse? Would he have to explain to Shiro and Allura and the doctor and Lance’s family why there was a massive spiderweb crack over Lance’s sternum? The crystal groaned, splintering further, and before Keith’s eyes the fractures spread across Lance’s entire body.

It collapsed all at once, and Keith wasn’t sure if he made a noise but if he did it was probably a sob. Beneath the lifeless crystal, now nothing more than a pile of fine dust on the floor, was Lance. Real and breathing and _alive_. He swayed forwards and Keith caught him with ease, relief bubbling up in his chest and making him lightheaded with joy. He sank to his knees, resting Lance across his lap, and cradled the Blue Paladin close.

“Keith?” Lance mumbled sleepily, and Keith pulled back with a smile so wide his cheeks hurt. Fuck, Lance was beautiful like this, all sleep-mussed and unguarded. Keith leaned down, and pressed his lips gently to Lance’s. Only for a split second, but when he pulled away he knew it had been a mistake. Lance’s lips were soft, and beautifully cool against his, and now that he’d given in to the impulse once he wanted to give in again and again. Wanted to hold Lance close and just kiss until neither of them could breathe. Keith opened his eyes, and found Lance staring at him in naked wonder. He looked a lot less asleep, but he wasn’t trying to escape Keith’s hold.

“I may have to almost die more often.” he murmured, and Keith almost dropped him.

“Do that and I’ll kill you myself.” he threatened. Lace laughed, and pulled him in for another kiss. The angle was awkward, and made his neck hurt, so he pulled Lance up to sit properly across his lap and kissed him harder. It was everything he’d wanted for months, and when he eventually pulled back and slid his eyes open to meet Lance’s he gasped involuntarily.

“What?” Lance frowned. “Do I have something on my face?”

Keith nodded. Something was a bit of an understatement. Lance’s face was covered in freckley flecks of blue, glowing dimly in the low light of the tunnel. His irises were the same brilliant hue, and his hair... his hair had gone as white as Allura’s, catching the glow from his freckles and shining like moonlight. “A bit.” he said lamely, sliding one of his hands up from the small of Lance’s back and the other down from his shoulder. Both hit something that definitely wasn’t skin, and Lance shivered in his lap.

“Do that again.” he breathed, and Keith pulled him into a tight hug as he ran the fingers of one hand up Lance’s spine, mapping the crystal ridge there with his fingertips. If he was remembering his anatomy right, under each of these crystal protrusions was a vertebra. He used his other hand to trace the tops of the crystals, and bit back a hiss when one of them managed to prick his finger through his flight suit. The ridge of Lance’s spine had become something more like a toothed blade, and Keith giggled as a random thought occurred to him.

Lance made a quizzical sound, and Keith moved one of his hands to twine their fingers together. “This is going to ruin your shirts.” he said, tracing back down the side of Lance’s spinal ridge.

Lance grunted in annoyance, the light dimming from his freckles until they were just a flat, beautiful blue just half a shade off from the colour of his eyes. “Guess I’ll have to go shirtless, then.” he smirked, and Keith’s heart leapt in his chest.

“Lance, you’re up!” Hunk’s jubilant cry shattered the moment, Lance startling in Keith’s lap and pressing closer to his chest.

“You’re okay!” Pidge skidded to a stop next to Hunk, and their face split in a beaming grin. “And you finally got a clue, too!”

“Pidge!” Lance yelped, and Keith chuckled as he rubbed at Lance’s shoulder.

“Nice to see you with two working arms again.” Shiro said as he stopped behind Hunk and Pidge, resting an arm on Pidge’s head. Lance pulled away, and Keith abruptly realised that both of Lance’s arms were around his waist. Both of his normal, flesh and blood human arms. He pulled his right one away, and Keith relinquished his hold when Lance made to stand. His leg worked again too, and the skin on both previously frozen limbs was decorated with patches of opaque crystal like stiff, shiny scar tissue.

“Whoa.” Hunk gasped, taking a small step forwards as Keith rose to his feet. “Dude, you look so cool!”

Lance looked down at himself, turning his hands, and Keith bit back a giggle as he finally noticed the white hair hanging in his face. “Oh, man.” he whined. “Where am I gonna find hair dye in _space_?”

Keith did laugh at that, along with the rest of the team, and stepped up behind Lance to give him a gentle hug, mindful of his spines. “Why dye it? It looks nice.”

“Like Allura’s hair!” Pidge added.

“What about my- oh.” Allura came to a halt, and Doctor Gacrux almost ran into her. Well, that answered the question of where she was.

“I’m thinking of dying it.” Lance said, and Keith tucked his chin over Lance’s shoulder with a soft whine. “Thinking of it!” Lance huffed. “Not committing either way yet.”

“I’m with Keith, it looks good on you.” Hunk smiled, clapping a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“We’ll see how I like living with it.” Lance shrugged, and Keith gave him a gentle squeeze before stepping back. To his surprise, Lance reached out and took his hand before he could step completely out of range, his grip gentle but iron-hard. “Where are you going, mullet?” he asked as Hunk edged in close, eyes occasionally flicking to Allura as if asking for permission.

“Nowhere.” Keith smiled, stepping back in and adjusting his hand in Lance’s to return the hold more easily as Hunk scooped Lance up in a bear hug. Pidge and Shiro quickly joined, and Keith rolled his eyes as he let Lance pull him into the group hug. They still had to sit down and actually talk about dating and stuff, but for now, he was content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And again, you can see the art for this fic [here](https://panana-art.tumblr.com/post/168755765345/) on tumblr.


End file.
